Tracking youth’s movement

Thursday

Apr 3, 2008 at 2:00 AMApr 3, 2008 at 11:00 PM

Patriot Staff

Kudos to the Massachusetts Cultural Coast partnership for putting its members before a firing squad of intelligent young people last week. OK, it wasn’t that confrontational, but the meeting at the Cape Codder Resort and Spa certainly hit the target. A little background first: the Cultural Coast is Quincy, Plymouth and Bristol counties, the Islands, and Cape Cod. Its Web site, www.theculturalcoast.com, promotes the area’s historic and cultural glories. Wisely, the group decided it needed to hear from a younger crowd. It asked Julianne Goodfellow, 26, who works with U.S. Rep. and Cultural Coast godfather Bill Delahunt, to visit a couple of attractions. Her companions were Estefania von Hausen, 23, originally from Chile and Goodfellow’s brother, 17-year-old Gregory. Nary an “uh” or “I dunno” was heard from the well-spoken, forthright panelists. They gave the audience of graying Boomers who manage and promote cultural showpieces hereabouts valuable insights into ways to appeal to Generation Next. Let’s start with the most painful. If you’re reading this, you’re too close to extinction. Young people don’t go to museums to read extended remarks tacked up next to exhibits. “One of the things that turned me away,” Gregory Goodfellow said of a visit to Battleship Cove in Fall River, “was a lot of signs with big, long paragraphs. My generation… wouldn’t like that. We have a short attention span. We wouldn’t want to read something that long.” (OK. Anyone under 30 who wants to stop reading this pillar of print is excused) On the other hand, the younger Goodfellow said he enjoyed seeing the ships and submarine at the Cove. He made it clear that his peers process information visually, and by ear. He cited a tour of Alcatraz that included taped descriptions as well as aural reenactments of historic happenings there. If you’re listening, Battleship Cove, hire a couple of actors to shout, “Man the torpedoes!” into a recording device. The young speakers stressed that they’re not looking to carry clunky cassette players down museum corridors. Julianne Goodfellow said attractions should consider the economy and ease of recorded tours that can be downloaded onto visitors’ iPods. Her brother drew chuckles when he offered advice on what not to sell in gift shops, a profit center for many attractions. Recalling the trio’s visit to the Lizzie Borden museum in Fall River, he said he didn’t quite see the value of walking around with a tee shirt, cap or mug bearing a reference to Borden’s alleged killing spree. One word that gets her generation up and moving, Julianne Goodfellow advised, is “free.” Even if what’s being given away pales in value before what a visitor will spend in the gift shop, it’s still a big pull. She said she shares her peers’ Web obsession. “If I can’t find it on the Web, I’m not going,” she admitted, adding that, “If we see it on TV, we’re more likely to visit.” Her brother agreed, indicating that advertisers are wasting their money trying to reach him through print media. (Keep that to yourself, OK?) The most effective advertising, Gregory Goodfellow said, was the suggestion of a trip to a cultural attraction. “I need someone to push me to do it,” he said. Hear that, parents? Start early, and keep extending invitations. EFM emaroney@barnstablepatriot.com